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NC doctors sue state over Medicaid payment delays

A group of North Carolina doctors has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking millions in damages from the state and its contractors over flawed computer programs that severely delayed Medicaid reimbursements.

The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that managers at the Department of Health and Human Services and contractors Computer Sciences Corporation, Maximus Consulting Services and SLI Global Solutions were negligent in the launch of NCTracks. The $484 million computer system is intended to streamline the filing of Medicaid claims and issuing payments.

The complaint says the launch of NCTracks was a "disaster" and the software riddled with errors. The problems led to delays of weeks and sometimes months before medical providers and hospitals received payment, forcing some businesses to take out loans to meet payroll.